National Express(and Megabus) duplicate coach

[Martin2013]

I got the idea for this thread from the "Best Rail Replacement" service thread.

For anyone who doesn't know, duplicate coaches operated by National Express and Megabus are additional vehicles that are hired in by the operator to meet increased demand at busy periods. They are often in the livery of that operator as opposed to Nat Ex/Megabus and different vehicle types to the standard Nat/Ex Megabus vehicles.

Has anyone on here had an experience of traveling on such a journey and if so, can you remember what route/operator/vehicle type it was?

I've been on a number of these between Bristol and London and Bristol and Birmingham. One of the most unusual ones I traveled on was a van-hool from a welsh company called Brodyr Williams who duped a London to Bristol service and I also remember a journey between Bristol and Birmingham on a merc benz touro from a company called Hemmings Coaches. This vehicle was really comfy and had a good amount of legroom.

I've also traveled on coaches from Turners of Bristol on both National Express and Megabus work.

 

[starrymarkb]

Traveling on a very busy day from Exeter to London as a kid we ended up on a Bow Belle vehicle - can't remember the type - as the Neoplan Skyliner on the main service was full (this was early 1990s) - Coming back did managed to get front row top deck on the Skyliner

Most recent one I managed to dodge, the service was duplicated Birmingham to Bristol so through passengers to Exeter/Plymouth (including me) were put on the Levante (Horrible thing) and Bristol passengers were loaded onto a rather battered unbranded VanHool T8 (which was filled right up!)

 

[185]

Has anyone on here had an experience of traveling on such a journey and if so, can you remember what route/operator/vehicle type it was?

About fifteen years ago, in a previous job, I have some experience of working with dupe drivers and winning many an argument about who's doing the stops and why both buses should share the work fairly and equally.

Put one bitter rival operator to complete shame. I turned up as the dupe at Manchester, in a spare National Express coach. Their coach, the service car, rolled in - it was an ancient private hire wreck. It took the confused station staff a few minutes to realise which coach was which. Needless to say, they lost the route- their only remaining route at the end of the season.

It's a pain on dupes doing London - the VCS often only have room for the service cars, especially on Friday/Sunday and quite often you end up sent somewhere horrid to take your statutory 45 minute break.

 

[pemma]

I've travelled on a Haytons Coaches coach when using a National Express service between Liverpool and Manchester but it wasn't a duplicate service but covering for a normal National Express service.

One overnight service I caught when there was 6 nations rugby on in Glasgow the next day was a National Express coach from the South West to Edinburgh. However, at Manchester passengers who weren't going to Edinburgh got moved to a duplicate service being run by a non-National Express coach.

 

[Titfield]

Seaview Coaches of Parkstone used to provide duplicate vehicles for National Express workings ran by Shamrock and Rambler / National Travel South West on the Bournemouth - London service.

 

[185]

Some of the companies hired for dupes ranged from the excellent, such as Bennett's of Warrington and Holmeswood - mostly driven by ex-National Express drivers, to the utter worst such as Huggins and Merediths, both of whom had impromptu barbeques disrupting the entire M6.

 

[Martin2013]

Thanks fo those who have responded.
starrymarkb, I think I know which service you are refering to and which operator you are refering to. I've traveled on many duplicates provided by them before.

jcollins, I also traveled on a Haytons liveried vehicle on a National Express service. In my case, the 325 route from Birmingham to Manchester. It was a plaxton excalibur coach and it was filling in for a regular National Express vehicle.

I can imagine that its quite difficult when there are lots of coaches all on layover in London VCS at the same time. I've been aware of a few instances where there have been lots of dupes out of Birmingham and there hasn't been enough room for them all in Digbeth Coach Station. I seem to remember the car park outside the old station getting used as a parking area for duplicate coaches on some occasions and something similar was done at the temporary station.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

I've seen First Aberdeen coaches duplicate the Megabus M9 Glasgow - Aberdeen on several occasions...

 

[howittpie]

Been on Hamiltons of Uxbridge a number of time on Megabus dupes as well as covering a failed coach they have always seemed decent.

Also been on a Redwing coach overnight on the 422 Manchester-London it was a very nice setra but arrived at 4am which was a bit of a pain. Been on numerous other ones including the 421 from Liverpool to London that was Irizar Scania from a company in Woodford Essex can't remember the name but I remember one of the drivers looked about 90!

 

[Martin2013]

I've experienced Hamiltons Of Uxbridge on both National Express and Megabus services between London and Bristol. I think the Megabus journey I went on was subcontracted to them but when I traveled with them on NX, they were being used to provide a duplicate/replacement coach. I seem to remember the driver saying "Good evening ladies and gentleman and welcome to a 'SMOKING'! coach".

I also a remember traveling on a National Express service between London and Bristol being provided by a company called TWH Travel(I think Redwing actually took them over).

 

[Blindtraveler]

I've seen First Aberdeen coaches duplicate the Megabus M9 Glasgow - Aberdeen on several occasions...

Didnt realise they had any. Are well you learn something

Had a bus seated Stagecoach Manchester Inviro E400 on megabus duties atwn Birmingham and Manchester once as the booked vehicle had broken down. Sat upstairs and was ok, not great though!↲

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Didnt realise they had any. Are well you learn something

Had a bus seated Stagecoach Manchester Inviro E400 on megabus duties atwn Birmingham and Manchester once as the booked vehicle had broken down. Sat upstairs and was ok, not great though!↲

They have Scania coaches as seen here...

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/419871..._prefs_photos_IS_1_AND_mt_IS_all_AND_w_IS_all

 

[causton]

Didnt realise they had any. Are well you learn something

Had a bus seated Stagecoach Manchester Inviro E400 on megabus duties atwn Birmingham and Manchester once as the booked vehicle had broken down. Sat upstairs and was ok, not great though!↲

Saw a Stagecoach E400 heading up to Birmingham outside Finchley Road tube station before. Thought that must have been fun... still, at least it wasn't a London E400 with the speed and engine limiter

 

[overthewater]

Does Stagecoach Yorkshire still have two E400 deckers for Megabus work just in-case of breakdowns?

 

[howittpie]

Just remembered about 3 years ago I had a Megabus vehicle covering a Nat Ex 560 service, Stagecoach Chesterfield are the contractor for that service. Bet that went down well with Nat Ex

 

[mbonwick]

Does Yorkshire still have to E400 for Megabus work just in-case?

The E400s aren't specifically Megabus spares - they're part of the normal service allocation, but are tacho fitted so they can be used if needed.

Very rare to see regular Stagecoach vehicles out on Megabus now, hire-ins are more likely.

 

[Volvodart]

I've seen First Aberdeen coaches duplicate the Megabus M9 Glasgow - Aberdeen on several occasions...

They also used to cover for National Express breakdowns from Aberdeen, but I am unsure if this still happens.

 

[Martin2013]

I remember the days when double decker buses in Stagecoach livery used to get used on Megabus service. I'm pretty sure I once saw one on a service from Bristol to Newcastle back in the early days of that route. I also remember one occasion where a Megabus service from Bristol was being worked by a double decker bus from Stagecoach but the local bus route from Cwmbran and Newport to Bristol also worked by them had a coach on it.

 

[Taunton]

------ to the utter worst such as Huggins and Merediths, both of whom had impromptu barbeques disrupting the entire M6.

Is that the Huggins from The Wirral? Goodness, I remember using them for a school private hire to Blackpool one Illumination evening in 197-harrumph! They turned out a pair of ramshackle, even then, Bedford SBs. Apparently they were the cheapest quote, but at least we got there and back. Are they still around?

Regarding duplicates, I recall roaming around the USA on Greyhound, actually not too long after the above journey. Greyhound didn't take reservations then, but guaranteed to accommodate everyone, and indeed they did, never saw a failure of the arrangements, despite most journeys stopping along the route at various cities and towns, and many being extremely lengthy, even multi-day, cross-country routes with departures every few hours. One record I remember was Friday evening in August leaving New York heading south for Florida via all the points along the way, listened to the dispatch staff and they got away no less than 17 duplicates - known in the USA as "second sections" - on one departure, mostly Greyhound themselves but a few private hires as well, all seemingly on the spur of the moment, although doubtless predicted. They seemed to have a procedure not to operate in actual convoy, but you often passed two or three heading in the opposite direction over a few minutes.

 

[pemma]

Is that the Huggins from The Wirral? Goodness, I remember using them for a school private hire to Blackpool one Illumination evening in 197-harrumph! They turned out a pair of ramshackle, even then, Bedford SBs. Apparently they were the cheapest quote, but at least we got there and back. Are they still around?

They shut down in 2009 http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/4..._Wirral_s_Huggins_Coaches_puts_the_brakes_on/

 

[quarella]

C reg (1986) Fiat Panda. Bristol to (I think) Yeovil in 1990. Only 1 passenger. Coach firm asked to provide a dupe was based twenty miles away and it was about 4pm on a Friday evening. My father, part time driver, was finishing work less than a mile from the bus station. Sorted. Of course he had to drive it into one of the bays in the bus station. Such a shame he didn't have a camera. There are others which I'll add when I have more time but that is the most unusual.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

There was a very odd occasion when someone up in North Scotland, either Bluebird or Stagecoach in the Highlands was struggling to get a duplicate, they sent out an 07 plated Wright Eclipse from Stagecoach in the Highlands. Mind you this was going back a few year now though...

 

[Deerfold]

I've generally been lucky with duplicates.

I used to regularly get them on the last trip of the day on a Friday going Nottingham to Leeds.

If I was lucky the duplicate would do the journey to Leeds with no stops, saving 20-30 minutes, and on a good day, getting me home an hour ealier once my connections were taken into account.

Last month I was the last but one person to get on a duplicate going from Leeds to London VCS. Missing out Wakefield and Golders Green (and leaving 5 minutes early as we were full) got us in 35 minutes early.

 

[Martin2013]

Interesting that you mentioned the Nottingham to Leeds service. I've not traveled on a duplicate coach on that route as such but I have traveled on scheduled journeys on that route which have been worked by non-national express liveried vehicles. In one instance this was with an operator called Hardings Of Redditch and from memory the vehicle was a van-hool, and in the other, the operator was Travelstar European and the vehicle was an irizar century.

I also remember an instance where I was traveling on the Leeds to Birmingham service on a friday evening. The vehicle for the longer 310 service to Birmingham which ran via Mansfield, Nottingham, Leicester and Coventry had broken down earlier in the day and there was no replacement available. As such, that service and the shorter 320 service via Chesterfield and Derby which I was booked on ended up being merged together. At the time, that particular journey on the 320 was contracted to an operator called Foursquare that did not have National Express liveried vehicles so that was what ended up being used on the merged service.

With a combination of a longer route and bad weather causing congestion on the roads, we didn't reach Birmingham until 11PM at night. I had missed my connecting service to Bristol by this time and ended up having to go the rest of the way home in a taxi.

 

[Liam]

The E400s aren't specifically Megabus spares - they're part of the normal service allocation, but are tacho fitted so they can be used if needed.

Very rare to see regular Stagecoach vehicles out on Megabus now, hire-ins are more likely.

Sometimes see Stagecoach X25 branded coach on the 900. Also see Megabus on the X25. Or anything else from Blochairn.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Sometimes see Stagecoach X25 branded coach on the 900. Also see Megabus on the X25. Or anything else from Blochairn.

Blochairn depot seems to be an oddity, they do seem to shove their branded X25 coaches on any route. They are frequently found on the X19. Even odder when there's a Megabus decker on the X19...

 

[mbonwick]

Blochairn doesn't have many spares in swoops; 2 MAN ALX300s (hardly the most reliable of things), 2 B12BTs (but they have 1 less B7R than they need).

So in essence they have just 2 spare SDs and a spare coach, excluding Mega/Citylink stuff.

 

[GaryMcEwan]

Blochairn doesn't have many spares in swoops; 2 MAN ALX300s (hardly the most reliable of things), 2 B12BTs (but they have 1 less B7R than they need).

So in essence they have just 2 spare SDs and a spare coach, excluding Mega/Citylink stuff.

They have an SPT branded E300 that always seems to be sitting at the depot doing nothing.

 

[mbonwick]

That E300 belongs to SPT, and is sat there waiting for them to decide what to do with it. It has recently seen service on a roadworks shuttle, but its long term future is uncertain with Stagey.

 

[quarella]

I expect it was due to congestion on the M5 and further west, and possibly passenger numbers but in 1989 and 1990 the firm I drove for would get a call most summer Saturdays to do a dupe from Pontins at Burnham-on-Sea to Bristol. Nat Ex were so desperate they would accept whatever was left in the yard. A 25 str Mercedes with Reeve Burgess Beaver body. It did have coach seating but was more suited to service bus work. Boot was full after half a dozen cases so the rest of the luggage was on seats.
We also used a 20 year old Bedford Duple Dominant 1 occasionally. The Inspector at Bristol was on the verge of loading it to continue to London when something that fitted their vehicle age criteria came in and was used.

Also around 1990 My father was doing a duplicate from Bristol to London in an F reg Dennis Javelin Duple 320 when he sustained a puncture on the M4. Reading Transport came to the rescue and he completed the journey using a brand new Optare Delta bus of theirs. After dropping the passengers at Victoria he realised that he didn't actually know where the depot was to take the bus back to. Knowing that train stations are signposted and bus routes serve train stations he went there to ask directions.

A driver I know sent to do a Bristol-London duplicate at short notice. After his expected arrival time Victoria were ringing the office asking where this coach was as they were looking at holding some connections. No mobile phones then but he had stopped at Heston services on the way out of London and rang the office. It transpired he had dropped the passengers at Victoria bus station, not the coach station.